AllThingsD » Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:00:49 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 At Work With Microsoft Office on an iPhone http://allthingsd.com/20130618/at-work-with-microsoft-office-on-an-iphone/ http://allthingsd.com/20130618/at-work-with-microsoft-office-on-an-iphone/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:10:15 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=334459 If you asked someone on the street to name a Microsoft product they can’t live without, they would likely mention Microsoft Office, the suite that includes Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Even Apple fans find themselves installing Office the second they buy a new Mac. IPhone owners have yearned for a way to access and edit Office documents on the go, yet Microsoft has kept this valuable asset restricted to its Windows Phones and Surface tablets.

Until now.


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Last Friday, Microsoft released Office Mobile, a free app in the Apple App Store. This mobile version of Office lets you work on something at your desk, like a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, leave your desk and pull up the exact same document on your iPhone later. Any changes you make get saved back to a copy of the document and are there when you open it at your desk again.

This is a significant step for Microsoft, which has watched many of its users, especially younger users, migrate to free cloud-based programs like Google Drive, or to mobile office suites like Quickoffice. I’ve relied heavily on creating and sharing documents with other Google users via Drive for projects like planning my wedding, organizing To Do lists with my husband and coordinating my sister’s baby shower.

Unfortunately, there are many catches to using Office Mobile on the iPhone. If you can get past these, it’s a solid app that does a good job of making you forget you’re working on a small screen. It uses a lot of white space without excess text that would create clutter and its minimal number of icons allows easy access to actions like viewing and editing.

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Office Mobile for iPhone app lets Microsoft Office 365 users edit their PowerPoint presentations on the go.

The first thing people should know is that Office Mobile only works for people who have a Microsoft Office 365 account. This cloud-centric, subscription version of Office starts at $80 a year for students using Office 365 University or $100 a year for Office 365 Home Premium users. If you only use a more traditional, desktop-based version of this suite, like Office 2011 or even Office 2013, you can’t use Office Mobile.

Second, it isn’t an iPad app, though you can hit the “2x” magnification button on your iPad to see it in a tablet-sized view with some slight pixilation. The iPhone’s 4-inch screen isn’t too small to use for creating, reading or editing Word documents, but cells of numbers and text in Excel spreadsheets aren’t exactly ideal for the iPhone’s screen.

Third, Office Mobile isn’t available for Android, so anyone who owns, say, a Samsung Galaxy S III or HTC One can’t use this app.

And there are other caveats. Office Mobile for iPhone doesn’t include Outlook, so if you’re a big fan of this email program, you’re out of luck on the go. Also, you can’t create PowerPoint presentations from your iPhone—though you can access and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

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Users can also work on Excel spreadsheets in Office Mobile for iPhone.

One purchase of Office 365 allows up to five installations on Windows PCs or Macs and up to five installations on phones, not including Windows Phones, which come preloaded with a more extensive version of Office Mobile. But even though I tested Office Mobile on an iPhone and an iPad, my account only reflected my computer installations of Office 365. A spokesman for Microsoft said this will be updated in the future to show a more comprehensive list of installations.

I signed into my Office 365 account and found all of the documents I saved to SkyDrive waiting for me in this app. (SkyDrive is the name for Microsoft’s cloud-storage system and it synchronizes documents so they reflect recent changes no matter where you open them.) Unlike some competing iPhone office suites, the app only saves documents to SkyDrive, not to the phone itself or other cloud services.

Four quick access buttons get you started with this app: Recent, Open, New and Settings. The Recent panel groups Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents together, yet sorts them into helpful time-related sections like Today, Yesterday, Two Weeks Ago and Older. The Open panel gives you access to SkyDrive or to a SharePoint account, which is Microsoft’s more corporate-focused option for cloud storage. In the New panel, I saw templates like Agenda and Outline for Word and Budget and Mileage Tracker for Excel. Templates like these are especially helpful if you’re creating a document on the go using a small screen like the iPhone.

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Word documents are also accessible on the app.

Within projects in Word and Excel, I could tap an eye icon in the top right to change to Outline View or to search for a specific word in the document. Text formats can be adjusted, including highlighting, font size, strikethroughs, bolding and others, but you can’t change a font type. In Excel, AutoSums can be added, charts can be created and cells can be formatted. In a PowerPoint presentation, I edited slide text and browsed many slides at once in the Presentation View. Turning my iPhone into landscape view showed a slide taking up the full screen, while portrait view displayed my speaker notes below the slide—a handy cheat sheet for presentations.

As I accessed documents, any comments I made on them were noted in a small red tab. Tapping on this tab also gave me access to comments from others with whom I shared the document. New projects and edits to existing projects aren’t automatically saved as you go. Rather, when you navigate away from the document, you’re prompted to save changes to your SkyDrive, or simply discard changes.

Office Mobile for iPhone works well—if you meet all of the qualifications to use it. But Microsoft needs to demonstrate its presence on more platforms, including iPads and Android devices, to lure Office users from the many available free alternatives.

Email katie.boehret@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130618/at-work-with-microsoft-office-on-an-iphone/feed/ 0 Buy the Stroller Now or Wait for a Price Drop? http://allthingsd.com/20130611/buy-the-stroller-now-or-wait-for-a-price-drop/ http://allthingsd.com/20130611/buy-the-stroller-now-or-wait-for-a-price-drop/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:08:31 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=331204

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After more than a decade of online shopping, it’s still difficult to comparison shop without doing a lot of detective work. People read consumer-product reviews, troll the Web for prices, ask friends for input and create spreadsheets compiling all of these factors.

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Part of the Decide.com page for the BOB Revolution SE stroller. The graph shows its Decide Score and its place on the site’s color-coded system. If a product’s score is in the green, Decide suggests buying it. Yellow means a buyer can do better and red means don’t buy it.

This week, I put my feet up and let an algorithm do the work for me by using Decide.com.

This website has two main features that help it tell you whether or not you should buy something. First, it gives products a Decide Score out of 100 points based on user reviews, as well as expert reviews from sources like Consumer Reports. Second, it uses a price-predicting technology to tell you whether or not the price is likely to go up or down in the next two weeks, so you don’t have to go through the frustration of buying something only to see the price drop right after.

Tuesday, Decide.com launched a new category of products that are particularly challenging to buy: Baby & Kids. This category is a significant addition to the site that triples its number of products. Decide.com now covers 135 categories and 2.9 million products. By the end of this year, the company plans to cover 100 million products in every major category found on Amazon.com.

Decide.com launched two years ago with a focus on consumer electronics and gadgets and expanded last year to include appliances and home and garden items. It was co-founded by the same person who created Farecast, which predicts airline ticket prices and was bought by Microsoft for use in Bing Travel.

Its price-prediction technology, which the company claims is 80 percent accurate, works by looking at over 100 factors, including past price trends; seasonality; product life cycle; the number of retailers carrying the item, which reflects price competition; and other market signals.

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The bottom line on a car seat.

I happen to be a prime candidate for the new Baby & Kids category as I’m expecting my first child in September. Unlike creating a wedding registry, where I selected items I knew I liked and had used before, I’m intimidated by figuring out which baby products to get. On my first trip to a baby store, I left overwhelmed and teary with hardly anything on my registry, convinced I would select the wrong things.

I got early access to Decide.com’s Baby & Kids category and I’ve been using it as well as the rest of the website for the past two weeks. Compared with other sites that are littered with text, confusing graphics and ads, Decide.com is a breath of fresh air.

People can use Decide.com free of charge to view Decide Scores and up to eight price predictions. For an annual membership fee of $30, you get unlimited price predictions and price guarantees, under which Decide.com pays you via PayPal or a check when the price of something you buy drops within two weeks. An iOS app is available now and an Android app is in the works.

On the downside, not all products have Decide Scores. Instead, they just say whether or not now is a good time to buy. And price guarantees don’t include factors like shipping and tax. You also can’t buy something directly from Decide.com. You must navigate out to another online retailer like Amazon, Lowe’s or Walmart.

Decide limits the amount of information you see on each initial page and circles the Decide Score with a color-coded system of dark green, light green, yellow and red to mean We Love It, We Like It, You Can Do Better or Don’t Buy It, respectively. The scores change daily as the site takes in new reviews, which carry more weight than older ones, and they often change in real time, the company said.

I sprinted through searches for highchairs, carriers, strollers, refrigerators, laptops and kitchen hoods. I especially appreciated seeing all of a product’s user reviews compiled in one neat list. With one click, I could read the highest or lowest ratings.

Users can start a search on Decide.com by typing in their exact product or manufacturer name, like “Ergobaby” or “Samsung.” They can also opt to search by category and subcategory like Baby & Kids—Strollers.

Search results immediately fill the page in a clean grid. And a handy cheat sheet on the left summarizes the page so you know what you’ll find without scrolling through all of the products.

One unexpected perk of using Decide.com: I discovered online websites I didn’t know about like Albee Baby, where I found a good price for an umbrella stroller with a 90 Decide Score; and Appliances Connection, where I found the best price for a new Samsung refrigerator that scored a 91 on Decide.com.

I found a BOB Revolution SE stroller that Decide.com said was at one of its lowest-ever prices. I was fascinated to see the stroller cost $312 at JustKidsStore.com, while the same stroller at Nordstrom cost $449. Decide.com’s price predictor said it was 90 percent sure prices would rise $54 within the next two weeks, so it suggested buying now. A handy chart showed me the price of this stroller over the past two years.

If you see a product you like, but you don’t feel like buying it right then, click an option to set up an email alert. You’ll get email notifications if the prices goes up or down, and you can tell Decide when to send these alerts (daily, only when the price fluctuates or when the price changes by a certain amount).

Decide.com’s frank explanations and clean interface will be a lifesaver to online shoppers, and its new Baby & Kids category will be especially appreciated by expectant mothers like me.

Email Katie at katie.boehret@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130611/buy-the-stroller-now-or-wait-for-a-price-drop/feed/ 0 A Tablet Good for Living Room, Bag and Water http://allthingsd.com/20130604/a-tablet-good-for-living-room-bag-and-water/ http://allthingsd.com/20130604/a-tablet-good-for-living-room-bag-and-water/#comments Tue, 04 Jun 2013 22:19:23 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=329004

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In today’s tablet market, one device stands distinctly above all others: Apple’s iPad. With this tablet, Apple did what it always does and created an innovative, must-have device in a once-unexciting category.

That was three years ago.

Now, a company that made its name with high-end consumer electronics wants to give Apple a real challenge. Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z runs the latest version of Android, has a 10.1-inch screen and is the thinnest tablet yet, even thinner than Apple’s iPad Mini.

At 1.09 pounds, it’s lighter than the 1.44-pound full-size iPad. This tablet has infrared that turns it into a universal living-room remote control. And just for kicks, it works even when submerged in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes.

The Xperia is only available in models with Wi-Fi connections, as was the iPad when it launched. The models cost the same amount as their comparable iPad models: $499 for a 16-gigabyte Xperia (in black) and $599 for the 32-gigabyte model (in black or white). The Xperia is available in Sony stores, at Amazon.com and other online retailers; it will be in Best Buy stores in July.

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With all of its ports closed, the Xperia can work submerged in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes.

Sony has been out of the mobile-technology conversation for a long time, and the Xperia Tablet Z’s design and price position the company to get back in the game if it plays its cards right.

Sony also has a smartphone with the same name in the U.S., the Xperia Z, which is available unlocked (without a carrier) for $630. Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s president and CEO, recently said the phone will soon be available with a carrier.

I’ve been using this new tablet for over a week and it’s a serious rival to the iPad. Its stylish overall design, screen, fast performance, good camera and noticeably high sound quality make it easy to love. The Android OS, called Jellybean, runs smoothly and more thoughtfully than previous iterations of Android. But the Xperia Tablet Z didn’t fare well in my battery-life test. And some people may find the Xperia’s plastic back feels flimsy compared with the sturdy, brushed aluminum back on the iPad.

I own an Android tablet and have tested several others, but I liked the Xperia Z’s physical design best. Its super-thin build and light weight let you tote it in a briefcase or bag without noticing it. The Z’s speaker openings are smartly situated on the bottom and side edges, giving a full, surround-sound effect that doesn’t get muffled when you put it down on a table.

After putting the Xperia through its paces for a week, I decided to test its water resistance. First, I made sure all of its ports were covered with their attached flip-out doors. This included a Micro SD memory-card expansion slot, USB 2.0 port and a headphone output. I submerged the device in a deep sink filled with water for 10 minutes with music playing from it. I could still hear it underwater.

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The built-in infrared remote can control multiple components and lets users change channels with a swipe toward the television.

Most people won’t go for a swim with their tablets, but they will use them in places where splashes and spills are a regular occurrence, like the kitchen and bathroom. Even with wet fingertips, gestures and selections on the Xperia screen were still recognized, however inconsistently.

In everyday use, the Xperia’s battery life worked well enough that I didn’t notice a problem. But it came up short in my battery test. I set the screen brightness to 75%, kept Wi-Fi on to collect email in the background and played a loop of video until the tablet ran out of juice. The Xperia Z died after just under 5½ hours; the iPad lasted for nearly 11½ hours.

In my living room, I tested the Xperia Z’s built-in infrared remote by opening a preloaded Remote Control app. Here, I selected my device type and maker, and on-screen controls appeared that I tested to make sure they worked with my LG TV, TiVo and Sony sound system. This took just a few minutes and could come in handy if you use your tablet while watching TV, but most people probably will use it as a parlor trick.

I downloaded Sony’s TV SideView app, which let me enter my ZIP Code to pull up my cable provider’s channel guide to browse currently playing content from my tablet without disturbing the TV screen.

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The Xperia Tablet Z, left, has a 10.1-inch screen and is the thinnest tablet yet.

A handsome “Watch Now” view floated images of currently playing programs on my screen, and I tapped on each for more details, including related Twitter feeds. Swiping a box representing the program toward the TV changes the TV’s channel to this show.

The Xperia Z’s 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera have more megapixels than the iPad’s 5-megpixel rear camera and 1.2-megapixel front camera, though the cameras shouldn’t be judged solely on megapixels. Photos of the Pacific Ocean, friends and beaches looked rich and crisp. As I swiped through photos, each took a little extra time to come into focus, like what sometimes happens on a digital camera.

If you’re an Android fan and you’ve been waiting for a tablet with a great design, Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z fits the bill. Just don’t expect its battery to last as long as the iPad’s.

Write to Katie at katie.boehret@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130604/a-tablet-good-for-living-room-bag-and-water/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Jed York's First Game (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-jed-yorks-first-game-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-jed-yorks-first-game-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 20:45:03 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327887 Jed York, CEO of the San Francisco 49ers, appeared at D11 to talk about the new 49ers stadium that will boast some immersive high-tech integration. But once he got offstage he told Katie Boehret about a different sort of sporting experience entirely: The story of attending his first live game, at the age of 3.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-jed-yorks-first-game-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Fanhattan's Gilles BianRosa on Growing Up in France (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-fanhattans-gilles-bianrosa-on-growing-up-in-france-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-fanhattans-gilles-bianrosa-on-growing-up-in-france-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:20:38 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327894 At the 11th D: All Things Digital this week, Fanhattan CEO Gilles BianRosa showed off a sleek TV controller with more than 200 sensors, but no buttons. Where did that design come from? In part, as he told Katie Boehret, his French and Italian background may have played a role.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-fanhattans-gilles-bianrosa-on-growing-up-in-france-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: What's On Nuance CEO Paul Ricci's Bookshelf (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-whats-on-nuance-ceo-paul-riccis-bookshelf-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-whats-on-nuance-ceo-paul-riccis-bookshelf-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 18:07:21 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327896 Paul Ricci, chairman and CEO of Nuance, confirmed at D11 today that Nuance’s voice recognition software is one of the foundational parts of Apple’s mobile personal assistant, Siri. But he didn’t need a digital intermediary (well, other than that microphone) to talk to our own Katie Boehret about his summer vacation plans and what he’s reading right now.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-whats-on-nuance-ceo-paul-riccis-bookshelf-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Just How "Smart" Is SmartThings CEO Alex Hawkinson's Home? (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-just-how-smart-is-smartthings-ceo-alex-hawkinsons-home-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-just-how-smart-is-smartthings-ceo-alex-hawkinsons-home-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 17:45:18 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327905 At D11, Alex Hawkinson demoed the ways his company, SmartThings, could help you control your home from a mobile device. But just how “smart” is his real home? Here, he tells Katie Boehret the truth about that, and how a flooded basement encouraged him to start the company.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-just-how-smart-is-smartthings-ceo-alex-hawkinsons-home-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Atheer's Soulaiman Itani and Allen Yang Talk About Sleep http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-atheers-soulaiman-itani-and-allen-yang-talk-about-sleep/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-atheers-soulaiman-itani-and-allen-yang-talk-about-sleep/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 17:07:17 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327903 Soulaiman Itani and Allen Yang of Atheer came to D: All Things Digital to premiere their new wearable computing device, which definitely requires you to be awake. But after they finished up onstage, Itani and Yang talked with Katie Boehret about how their personality quirks and sleep deficiencies have helped and hindered product work.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-atheers-soulaiman-itani-and-allen-yang-talk-about-sleep/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Steven Sinofsky Does Yoga Every Day (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-steven-sinofsky-does-yoga-every-day-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-steven-sinofsky-does-yoga-every-day-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 16:55:04 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327898 Steven Sinofsky, who formerly headed up Windows at Microsoft, seemed at peace with his former employer during his appearance at D11 today, even holding up a Surface RT at one point. But he held something else entirely — a tree pose — for Katie Boehret, while telling her about his daily yoga routine.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-steven-sinofsky-does-yoga-every-day-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Tesla's Elon Musk on Being a Dad (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-teslas-elon-musk-on-being-a-dad-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-teslas-elon-musk-on-being-a-dad-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 09:00:57 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327723 Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and talked at length about both electric cars and space exploration at D11. But after his onstage appearance wrapped up, he had a few more questions to answer from Katie Boehret, about juggling fatherhood and his five boys with life as a CEO.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130530/katiecam-teslas-elon-musk-on-being-a-dad-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Yves Behar and Jason Johnson on Teamwork (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-yves-behar-and-jason-johnson-on-teamwork-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-yves-behar-and-jason-johnson-on-teamwork-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 02:40:25 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327342 One of the demos this year at D: All Things Digital came from August, a startup working on “smart” locks that talk to your mobile devices. But it takes another sort of smarts to make a startup team cohere. August’s Yves Behar and Jason Johnson chatted with Katie Boehret about the challenges of working together.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-yves-behar-and-jason-johnson-on-teamwork-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Motorola Mobility's Dennis Woodside Loves Triathlons http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-motorola-mobilitys-dennis-woodside-loves-triathlons/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-motorola-mobilitys-dennis-woodside-loves-triathlons/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 02:20:21 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327333 Dennis Woodside came to D: All Things Digital to talk about Google-owned Motorola Mobility and its future with an American-made phone, the Moto X. But after his appearance onstage, he caught up with Katie Boehret and talked about another sort of mobility: His passion for triathlons.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-motorola-mobilitys-dennis-woodside-loves-triathlons/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Motorola's Regina Dugan on Dancing and Cooking (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-motorolas-regina-dugan-on-dancing-and-cooking-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-motorolas-regina-dugan-on-dancing-and-cooking-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 02:10:40 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327320 Regina Dugan, SVP at Motorola Mobility, had plenty to share today at D: All Things Digital, including electronic tattoos and swallowable “password pills.” But in this KatieCam video from after her appearance, Dugan told Katie Boehret about her love of salsa dancing and how being an engineer makes her a better cook.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-motorolas-regina-dugan-on-dancing-and-cooking-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Troy Carter Dishes on the Best Cheesesteak in Philly http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-troy-carter-dishes-on-the-best-cheesesteak-in-philly/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-troy-carter-dishes-on-the-best-cheesesteak-in-philly/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 02:07:06 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327313 Troy Carter, who is Lady Gaga’s manager and the founder of Atom Factory, appeared today at D: All Things Digital alongside two other music managers: Scooter Braun and Guy Oseary. After the interview, Carter talked one-on-one with Katie Boehret about his favorite spot for cheesesteaks in Philadelphia and how he looks so young.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-troy-carter-dishes-on-the-best-cheesesteak-in-philly/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Anne Sweeney and I. Marlene King on Parent-Policed TV (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-anne-sweeney-and-i-marlene-king-on-parent-policed-tv-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-anne-sweeney-and-i-marlene-king-on-parent-policed-tv-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 01:57:18 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327306 Did your parents ever tell you that you couldn’t watch a certain TV show? For Anne Sweeney and Marlene King, who work for Disney and ABC, the answer is yes. In this video from the patio outside the D11 conference, they tell Katie Boehret about the racy TV of their childhoods, and whether they enforce similar rules with their own kids as parents.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-anne-sweeney-and-i-marlene-king-on-parent-policed-tv-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Jeff Zucker's Summer Travel Plans http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-jeff-zuckers-summer-travel-plans/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-jeff-zuckers-summer-travel-plans/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 01:40:38 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327295 Jeff Zucker, CNN’s president, appeared onstage at D11 today alongside Aereo’s Barry Diller, whose company aims to disrupt the TV industry. But after the interview, Zucker got some one-on-one time to chat with AllThingsD’s Katie Boehret about something a bit less competitive — his upcoming summer travels.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-jeff-zuckers-summer-travel-plans/feed/ 0 KatieCam: What Does Ben Silbermann Pin? (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-what-does-ben-silbermann-pin-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-what-does-ben-silbermann-pin-video/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 01:20:49 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327289 Pinterest is incredibly popular, but it doesn’t exactly make money yet. However, at D11 this week, CEO Ben Silbermann talked to Katie Boehret about what he pins most and what inspired him to start the website in the first place.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-what-does-ben-silbermann-pin-video/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Outside the Box With Aaron Levie (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-thinks-outside-the-box-before-he-was-in-enterprise-aaron-levie-was-a-magician/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-thinks-outside-the-box-before-he-was-in-enterprise-aaron-levie-was-a-magician/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 00:54:48 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327004 With Cisco’s John Chambers, Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie was half of a doubleheader onstage at D11. But like Chambers, he got some one-on-one time with AllThingsD’s Katie Boehret after their interview ended. In this video, he tells Katie about his adventures as a child magician.


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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-thinks-outside-the-box-before-he-was-in-enterprise-aaron-levie-was-a-magician/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Talking Theme Park Attractions With Disney's Tom Staggs (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-rates-the-rides-talking-theme-park-attractions-with-disneys-tom-staggs/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-rates-the-rides-talking-theme-park-attractions-with-disneys-tom-staggs/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 00:43:03 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327024 Tom Staggs came to D11 to show off the MagicBand, a wearable device that will soon replace paper tickets for Disney guests. As chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, he knows a thing or two about what’s in those parks; in this interview, conducted after his appearance onstage, he tells Katie Boehret about his favorite rides in the Disney parks.


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Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-rates-the-rides-talking-theme-park-attractions-with-disneys-tom-staggs/feed/ 0 KatieCam: The Lighter Side of Cisco's John Chambers http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-gets-enterprising-the-lighter-side-of-ciscos-john-chambers/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-gets-enterprising-the-lighter-side-of-ciscos-john-chambers/#comments Thu, 30 May 2013 00:16:14 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=326986 He was paired with Box CEO Aaron Levie onstage, but John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco, got the spotlight to himself after his official D11 appearance ended. Here, he tells Katie Boehret about learning to fly a helicopter and being scolded by his granddaughter.


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Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-gets-enterprising-the-lighter-side-of-ciscos-john-chambers/feed/ 0 KatieCam: Leaning In With Sheryl Sandberg (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-leans-in-allthingsds-katie-boehret-talks-to-sheryl-sandberg/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-leans-in-allthingsds-katie-boehret-talks-to-sheryl-sandberg/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 23:43:45 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=326903 Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg covered a lot of ground in her appearance at D11, the D: All Things Digital conference happening this week in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Most of the discussion centered around her book, “Lean In,” and Facebook’s post-IPO future.

AllThingsD’s Katie Boehret caught up with Sandberg in the hallway to ask her some more, including what she’ll be reading this summer and who helped advise her when she became COO.


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Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-leans-in-allthingsds-katie-boehret-talks-to-sheryl-sandberg/feed/ 0 KatieCam Tweets to the Top: A Few More Questions for Twitter CEO Dick Costolo http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-tweets-to-the-top-a-few-more-questions-for-twitter-ceo-dick-costolo/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-tweets-to-the-top-a-few-more-questions-for-twitter-ceo-dick-costolo/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 22:53:09 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=326950 Like Sheryl Sandberg, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo answered a lot of questions earlier today at D11. But AllThingsD’s Katie Boehret is catching up with some of this week’s speakers to ask them just a few more.

Here, she queries Costolo on how his theater background influences his leadership style, and what’s up with his personal fashion.


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Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-tweets-to-the-top-a-few-more-questions-for-twitter-ceo-dick-costolo/feed/ 0 KatieCam: A Bit of History About the Two Bit Circus (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-a-bit-of-history-about-the-two-bit-circus-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-a-bit-of-history-about-the-two-bit-circus-video/#comments Wed, 29 May 2013 21:32:55 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=327353 One of the most eye-popping demos so far at D11 came in the form of Steam Carnival, a modern re-imagining of the midway blending fun with education, and currently seeking funding on Kickstarter. Brent Bushnell and Eric Gradman, founders of Steam’s originating group, Two Bit Circus, talked about their personal histories in the circus with Katie Boehret after the show.


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Full D11 Conference Coverage

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130529/katiecam-a-bit-of-history-about-the-two-bit-circus-video/feed/ 0 Breathe, Relax, Repeat: Devices for Inner Peace http://allthingsd.com/20130514/breathe-relax-repeat-devices-for-inner-peace/ http://allthingsd.com/20130514/breathe-relax-repeat-devices-for-inner-peace/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 22:22:06 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=321609 Breathe in energy and positivity. Breathe out distractions and bad feelings. Envision a calm place and let yourself go there.

Who are you kidding? You’re probably racing to or from work along with hundreds of other people and the anxiety level you feel is indescribably high. You may want to try to meditate or center yourself in stressful situations like these, but never actually remember to do it.


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This week, I tested two sensors that might help: the $99 HeartMath Inner Balance Sensor for iOS and $119 Tinké by Zensorium. Each device plugs into Apple’s iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, and digitally monitors heart rate and breathing patterns, offering on-screen coaching to get you into a calmer zone.

While a traditional heart monitor often just spits out a number, both the HeartMath Inner Balance and Tinké provide feedback as you use them. People who meditate regularly but don’t know whether or not their heart and breathing are reacting to their meditations will get some specific answers with these devices and apps. Both of these free apps offer ways to save results and share them via email or social networks. Using them taught me how to lower my heart rate and steady my breathing.

The HeartMath sensor is the company’s first mobile device after years of working only on computers. One end clips to an earlobe, resembling a Bluetooth headset from afar, and uses an infrared sensor to see blood flowing through the skin and measure heart-rate variability. The other end attaches to an iOS device.

The company suggests spending 10 to 15 minutes with this app in the morning to prepare for the day and 10 to 15 minutes at night to get settled before sleeping. It measures what HeartMath calls coherence—an algorithm applied to heart-rate variability, which the company says can reflect emotional states and stress levels.

In stressful situations, I watched the screen register my low coherence level with a red icon, but I gradually learned how to get into the zone of high coherence, which is represented by a green icon.

I tried this for several days in the morning and at night, and found myself looking forward to my time with the app. I also tried it at different times of the day, including after a quick walk at lunch and while riding the subway home.

The first time you use HeartMath, helpful slides walk you through how the product works. You can switch between several views to focus on during a session: a flower pulsing in and out with your breaths; a shade that lifts and lowers as you breathe; a photo of a waterfall, which you can change to an image you’d like to stare at; or a statistical screen showing heart-rate variance, coherence over time, pulse and a spectrum analysis of heart rhythms. Relevant coaching phrases pop up to encourage you. Some included, “Breathe through the heart area” and “Excellent! You’re in high coherence!”

During setup, I was never asked for my gender or age, but a company spokeswoman said it plans to add these personalized levels later this year. Early next year, the company plans an Android version and a wireless version of the sensor.

The Tinké (pronounced “tink”) by Singapore-based Zensorium is a tiny sensor that comes in white, gray, pink or blue. After downloading its app, I was invited to use it as a guest, or by creating a new account. I tried guest mode and later created my own account, where session scores were saved. Even as a guest, I was prompted to enter my age and gender for a more accurate reading.

I plugged the sensor into my iPad, which made its infrared light glow. On-screen instructions told me to place my thumb over the light, and I waited while Tinké measured either my Zen Index or Vita Index. The Zen Index uses heart-rate variability to quantify stress levels in a simplified manner, according to the company. The Vita Index is a cardio-respiratory score that looks at heart rate, blood-oxygen level and respiratory rate (the number of breaths per minute).

I started with testing my Zen Index, which I did by breathing in time with one of five circle patterns that appeared on the screen, each pulsing at different paces. In just a few minutes, my score out of 99 points was displayed: “Calm, 57/99 points. Doing well. Keep calm and carry on practicing your breathing to improve.” When I tested my Vita Index, my score said: “Fresh, 84/99 points. Looking good! Your heart rate, respiratory rate and blood oxygen level are within normal ranges. Stay motivated!”

Fun factoids appeared on the screen while I used the Tinké sensor. One said, “Did you know? Your right lung takes in more air than your left.” Another said, “Eating fish helps lower your risk of depression.”

I chose a “Shout” icon in the app to share results with Tinké users but I could also share my results via Facebook. Tinké awards badges for activities and gives users extra points when they measure their Vita Index three times daily. There’s a leaderboard of all users, which might motivate people even more.

If you’re curious about your heart-rate variability and the other data that can be gleaned from it, I’d recommend the HeartMath Inner Balance for a comprehensive approach.

Email katie.boehret@wsj.com

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130514/breathe-relax-repeat-devices-for-inner-peace/feed/ 0 At 10, You Still Have Some Tricks, iTunes http://allthingsd.com/20130507/at-10-you-still-have-some-tricks-itunes/ http://allthingsd.com/20130507/at-10-you-still-have-some-tricks-itunes/#comments Tue, 07 May 2013 22:28:56 +0000 Katherine Boehret http://allthingsd.com/?p=319226 Apple just celebrated the 10th birthday of its famed iTunes, which is easily the most popular source for buying digital content. Still, I regularly field questions from my family and friends about how iTunes works. These range from basic questions about syncing to storing music in the cloud and sharing music with family. And iTunes also has a lot of features most people don’t know exist. This week, I rounded up some ways to improve the way you use iTunes.

Digital Allowance

If you aren’t thrilled at the prospect of setting your credit-card number as the default payment on your kid’s iTunes account, a monthly allowance might be a better solution. From the iTunes Store home page on your computer, select “Send iTunes Gifts” on the right, then “Learn More About Gifting” and scroll to the bottom to find allowance settings. You can set the allowance in amounts ranging from $10 to $50.

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Recipients must have an Apple ID, but you can set up an Apple ID for them at the same time. You can decide to send the allowance right away or wait until the next month, on either the first or the day of the month you set up the allowance. You also can add a personal message.

Redeeming Gift Cards

Some people are thrilled to receive iTunes gift cards, but they just don’t know how to redeem them. A simple shortcut on a computer or mobile devices is to open iTunes, navigate to the iTunes Store, scroll to the very bottom of the store’s home screen and click Redeem. (On a computer, this is under Manage. In the iOS app, it’s in the bottom, center of the screen.) You’ll be asked to enter your Apple ID and then to enter your gift card or download code. If you accidentally scratched letters or numbers from your code like I did once, call or email Apple Support and they’ll help you figure it out.

Gifts Without the Gift Card

Anything in the iTunes Store or Apple’s App Store can be given to another person via an email. On your computer, select the arrow beside the price and click on “Gift this.” If you’re using an Apple mobile device, select the share icon (a small square with an arrow pointing right) at the top of the screen from the store and choose “Gift.” Then enter a personal message and choose Now or Other Date to decide when the recipient gets it.

This is especially helpful for favorite games or TV shows that you want friends to start playing or watching.

Sharing Libraries

Many family members or friends may find themselves frustrated by how their digital content is stored in individual libraries associated with individual Apple IDs, making it harder to share this content. While you can’t merge Apple IDs to combine libraries, you can turn on Home Sharing within your home Wi-Fi network to let various devices share content while they’re within range of the network. Turn on Home Sharing from the Advanced menu in iTunes and enter the same Apple ID on up to five computers. Likewise, you can stream content from other shared computers, or drag it onto your computer’s local library.

You also can see this shared content from iOS devices and Apple TV. Within the Music app on iOS, click the More tab in the bottom right. In the Videos app, tap the Shared button at the top. On your Apple TV, go into Settings, Computer and turn on Home Sharing, then open the Computer icon in your Apple TV’s main menu to access libraries and stream content.

iCloud vs. iTunes Match

Owners of Apple products surely have heard of iCloud, but they may not use it. Some people aren’t sure how it works with music and how it differs from iTunes Match.

ICloud is a handy insurance policy against losing your iPod and all of your iTunes content along with it. Once you set up iCloud using your Apple ID, any content that you buy from the iTunes Store will show up on other devices without any syncing. Any past purchases from the iTunes Store will show up on all of your devices, too. Tapping a tiny cloud icon beside each file will pull it onto your device.

To replicate all of your content across devices, including stuff you haven’t bought from iTunes (like CDs you imported or bought elsewhere), iTunes Match will do the trick. This costs $25 a year and matches up to 25,000 songs. From iTunes on your computer, open the Store menu, select “Turn on iTunes Match,” enter your Apple ID and password and click Subscribe. On iOS devices, open Settings, Music and turn on iTunes Match.

ITunes Match will work on up to 10 devices, and it auto-scans for newly purchased content so you have it on all devices.

Getting Rid of Content

It may seem like everything in your iTunes library is stuck there for good. But if you’re tired of keeping unwanted files, like episodes of Season 2′s “Mad Men” or irritating tunes from a Christmas party playlist, the process to delete them is painless.

From your iTunes library on the computer, click the item to select it, press the delete key and click Delete Item. From here, you can opt to remove the item only from your iTunes library, which keeps the file on your computer though not in iTunes (click “Keep File”), or delete the item from your computer permanently (click “Move to Trash” and empty the Trash).

When you know how all of its features work, iTunes can be a real pleasure to use. But if you’re confused, syncing content can be a dreaded experience. If you know people who tiptoe around how to use iTunes, share this guide with them.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katie.boehret@wsj.com

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